M.A.S.K. Series In Development At IDW

By Chris Arrant, Editor March 14, 2016 10:00pm ET

Credit: Hasbro

Credit: DC Comics

Newsarama has learned that IDW Publishing is developing a comic book series based on Hasbro's 1980s toyline/cartoon M.A.S.K. This comes just months after Hasbro announced plans to incorporate M.A.S.K. and several other of its properties in the G.I. Joe cinematic universe, and IDW following suit with a comic book series is a logical extension of its long-running G.I. Joe and Transformers titles, as well as the upcoming Rom and Micronauts books.

M.A.S.K. had a premise similiar to G.I. Joe (complete with snake-based enemies named V.E.N.O.M.), but instead of being competing military organizations they were pilots of heavily modified vehicles. In addition, the pilots wore masks that gave them special abilities. It was created by Kenner in 1985, and Hasbro acquired the company in 1991.

M.A.S.K. isn't a stranger to comic books, however. The original 1985 toys were packaged with minicomics produced by Kenner, with DC later publishing a four-issue miniseries and later an ongoing series. In the United Kingdom, Fleetway also published a M.A.S.K. anthology magazine unconnected to DC or the cartoon's continuity. In 2011, Hasbro released a anthology titled UNIT-E featuring a new M.A.S.K. story written by Andy Schmidt.